New West Java Power Plant Faces Delays

Construction of a $4 billion project to build a 2,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Batang, Central Java, is facing slow progress due to land acquisition issues which have pushed it a year behind schedule, a senior government official said on Friday.

The government has announced the tender winner for the project on October 2011, said Luky Eko Wuryanto, deputy minister for infrastructure and regional development at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy.

Initial plans have scheduled Bhimasena Power Indonesia — a consortium that comprises Japanese J-Power and Itochu, as well as Indonesia’s Adaro Power, which won the tender, to commence construction for the plant last year, with commercial operations expected by 2017.

According to Luky, land acquisition was supposed to be completed six months after the announcement of the winning tender, while the project’s financial closure was expected within another six months.